The Cause and the Cure
by Mindwalker25
Summary: Yes, Ino was quite capable of giving Shikamaru a blinding-headache.


A/N; Author once know as Nara1991, and has been out of the fanfiction writing game for quite some time. This is a very old story, I have gone back and corrected grammar mistakes, spelling, a tweak here and there but have left it for the most part in it's original form. I would like to think my writing has improved since then, but enjoy none the less! We have all been majorly deprived of Shikaino goodness for the last few years. Most 'Canon couples' don't exist in my book ;)

No Beta, so there will still be mistakes looming - read at your own risk.

Disclaimer: All rights belong, and are reserved to Kishimoto, and/or their respective owners. I do not own anything Naruto related.

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Being with her on a mission was troublesome... being with her when not on a mission was pretty much the same, he had deduced.

"So - then forehead had the _cheek_ to call _my_ medical jutsu skills average! _Average?_ I can't believe her sometimes! She started training, what? Three months at most before me, and she thinks she's some kind of God?! Shikamaru are you listening?"

"Yes, fasinating."

He felt the Kunoichi next to him stiffen. "I might as well be talking to a brick wall."

Shikamaru shrugged in his usual fashion. "If you know yourself you're a proficient medical-nin, why get so worked up about it?"

Women were so troublesome.

"I-" The blonde closed her mouth. That was a new one for her, he thought, he shifted his sight to side of him. To find her looking at him wearing a smirk now.

"What?"

"So you _were_ listening?"

"Yes, I believe I was using my ears, as the majority of people are capable of."

"When you're listening to someone there _is_ such a thing as eye contact, you know."

"I thought listening required ears, not eyes."

"Stop being a smart arse!"

He knew he could get away with the odd sly dig or comment with Ino, but he also knew when to stop. She may not be a rampaging Monster like his mother, or a quite frankly demonically terrifying woman like Temari, but at the end of the day she was still troublesome. Troublesome in the sense he could just about put up with her, when she was in one of her many, unpredicatble mood swings

"Where the hell is Chouji anyway? What's taking him so long!" Demanded Ino.

Shikamaru felt sorry for his best friend now. Being as late as he was, he was sure to receive a full-blown letcure, if and when he did arrive. Mercy was not a concept Ino grasped very well.

He balanced his hands behind his head and tilted his back against the cold wall of the restaurant.

Thoughts surfaced in his minds eye. All of them seemed 'troublesome'. Especially seeing as it was only him and his blonde counter part. Providing conversation was not something he had to worry about...but enduring it was.

"Anyway. Where was I? Oh yes! So then - !"

Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose.

"After that - !"

"Ino." he half sighed.

"- and _I_ said! Like you could do any better, forehead-girl!"

"Ino, will you-"

"You're nothing but a jealous, washed up-"

"Ino!"

His half-angry outburst stopped the blonde dead in her tracks.

"What?"

"Will you be quiet for one minute, please. I'm starting to get a headache, and getting a headache is troublesome. So would you stop screaming down my ear?"

He said all this very calmly knowing full well the reaction he'd get, or at least he thought he'd get. Namely, more screaming, but he couldn't stop the words from tipping out. He really was starting to develop a nasty headache.

The blonde opposite him abruptly stood up from her seat. The scrapping of her chair caught his immediate attention, he slinked away from the wall.

"Humph! Well! I'm sorry for trying to confide in my team-mate then! Sorry for thinking you'd listen. Sorry for thinking that, for once! You might understand, or even care, you insensitive bastard!"

With that said (or screamed) the floodgates opened, and as she ran sobbing out of the restaurant, he knew he'd just made a big mistake. Suddenly, the headache wasn't top on his list of 'pains'.

He stood up too, if he didn't go looking for her now, she'd probably find a sake bar somewhere and get completely trashed again. And obviously _he'd_ be the one who would have to take her home, make up a story about how _he'd_ dragged her out to drink, and fall out of favour with the Yamanakas again. Not something he desired, especially with Ino having a Father like she did. Then, there was the trouble another white-lie like that would get him in, with his own parents. The last time he'd covered for her, Yoshino had not been best pleased. It was the scariest he'd ever seen his Mother.

He was always picking up the pieces she left behind. _Perhaps I should quit being a shinobi and make it a full-time occupation_. He thought to himself sarcastically.

He'd didn't bother 'running' after her, there was no need to, he'd hear her before he saw her. 'Loud' it seemed, was a trait that stuck with her. It took Shikamaru all but two full minutes to finally catch up with her. She was slumped upright against the wall of a desolate alley next to one of the kimono shops, she liked to spend so much of her free time in. Her forearm strewn across her eyes, failing at concealing the fact she was crying.

"Go away, Shikamaru."

"No" He stated, keeping a calm head, and approaching her. He rubbed at his headache. "Lets go back to the restaurant Ino, before someone commandeers our seats."

"N-no. Go away!"

"Don't be unreasonable, Ino."

"Me? Being Unreasonable? Whatever gave you that Idea!" She spat bitterly.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and did the only thing he knew would console the needy girl. He pulled her into a gentle side-ways hug. Her sobbing was abruptly cut off.

"You're troublesome, you know that?"

"I believe you've mentioned it once or twice before" She answered tonelessly.

He was glad to see she had stopped crying so quickly, which confirmed he'd definitely caught her in one of her explosive, short-lived mood swings

"Ok, are you ready to go back?" He pushed his index finger into the pain that was still nagging at his forehead.

"Headache, right?"

He nodded.

Ino gathered a small amount of chakra at the tips of her index finger and middle finger, placing them over the area Shikamaru had been complaining about.

"Headaches are caused by a build up of pressure you know, so I'm absorbing the chakra that's causing that build up." She smiled. "Plus I was sort of the cause, right?"

She was smiling again as she said this, looking up at him with those sky-blue eyes. They were still dewy from her recent flood of tears and her face was tear-streaked, and a little blotchy. He felt an over-whelming desire to kiss her right there and then. But of course he didn't. That was something to save for another day. Women weren't his top priority at the moment, his career as a shinobi was. Besides, they were still teenagers, and he knew right from being 12 years old, the woman standing before him, would become a fixed part of his life someway or another. He couldn't and wouldn't live without her.

Ino withdrew her fingertips from Shikamaru's forehead. "Done." she said flashing a grin.

"Thanks."

The pain was gone now. Yes, she was the cause but she was also the cure. That was definitely her, if you looked in a dictionary under the word 'contradictory' and you'd find the name 'Ino Yamanaka' staring back at you. She was so many different things.

"We should get back," He said unwrapping his arm from around her. "Chouji's probably turned up by now and is wondering where we are."

"Probably." She agreed, sniffing loudly, the last shred of evidence she'd even been crying, despite the fact that Shikamaru was always thinking ten steps ahead in any type of situation, he still had difficulty when it came to Ino.

He began to lead the way out of the alley and back onto the main street, when he felt a more noticeably feminine hand, slid into his own. _The first steps to bigger changes_ he thought to himself. He'd let her make all the first moves, he was too lazy and it was _less troublesome_ that way. He also knew that Ino was just as clueless as he was when it came to romance and relationships. Sure, she'd had a million crushes on a million worthless, nameless boys and had herself been the object of lust to many, but that counted for nothing when it came to a real solid relationship. He foresaw that trouble lay ahead for them. He liked to take things slow, she liked to rush. Conflicts were abound.

They arrived back at their usual place of meeting, and found that Chouji was infact waiting for them, as Shikamaru had predicted.

"What took you two so long? I thought I was the late one."

"There's a story behind it."

He looked down at their interlinked fingers.

"Oh, are you two-?" He trailed off.

"Um, I need to go freshen up. I'll be back soon." Said Ino, moving toward the direction of the bathroom.

Shikamaru knew of course she was actually attempting to break up the awkwardness of having Chouji acknowledge something was going on between them. She needn't have, Shikamaru told Chouji everything, including his true feelings on matters.

"Tell me all about." Grinned Chouji.

"Fine. But its troublesome." He smirked back.

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A/N; I hope you enjoyed this fic, which was written by me... 10 years ago! Please convince me I made the right decison in resurrecting this ol' piece ;) review?


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